An arsonist of about 50 years has entered provisional prison without bail after being arrested this weekend while trying to cause another fire in the province of Zamora. Investigations by the Civil Guard revealed that the arrested man was responsible for causing up to 18 fires in the province of Zamora between August 13 and 28. The agents intercepted him when he was going to unleash another focus. The number of hectares burned as a result of his illegal action amounts to seven hectares, an almost insignificant figure when compared to the more than 65,000 that have burned this summer in Zamora.
The areas that suffered the action of this arsonist had basically a vegetation of scrub, scrub and trees. The succession of 18 fronts in the areas of Benavente-Los Valles, Tábara and Tierra de Campos led to the initiation of investigations to locate those possibly responsible for these events through the direction of the Nature Protection Service (Seprona).
The Civil Guard has described the process of discovering that this man could be the alleged arsonist: “An investigation is launched to clarify the facts and find out the perpetrator(s). Inquiries are being made, as well as the study of the psychosocial profile of the possible author of the facts, directing a line of investigation with a possible suspect. Thus, the agents targeted this individual and, after having surveillance and preventive control devices, arrested this person when he was going to cause another fire and charged him with a “continued crime of forest fire”, for which the judge has ordered him to prison.
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Citizen collaboration has been important to stop this arsonist, since the residents of those areas provided key information so that the investigators could tighten the siege on the accused and start the work to intercept him. The work of the means of extinction, detailed sources familiar with the case, was essential for the affected area to remain in seven hectares, but the extreme conditions that have punished Zamora and Spain this summer could have aggravated the impact of the fires of no have been effectively intervened by firefighters.
The Civil Guard has recalled in a statement that the Penal Code includes prison sentences of between one and five years in prison for those who set fire to mountains or forest masses and between 10 and 20 years if it entails danger to people’s lives.
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Zamora has suffered two very serious fires this summer, in the Sierra de la Culebra and in Losacio, in which three people have died and more than 60,000 hectares have been destroyed, the equivalent of more than 6% of the province. Both were caused by dry storms that left lightning, but not rain, and were fueled by the lack of care for the forests, the drought, the heat waves and the lack of resources of the Junta de Castilla y León to undertake them.